State officials have issued Captain Jack’s restaurant in Naples a new eating establishment license after determining that the restaurant’s illegal septic system has been fixed.

In the spring, Naples Code Enforcement Officer Renee Carter contacted officials at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Health and Human Services after she received a resident’s complaint about the restaurant and Naples Marina owner Jim Allen approached the town with plans to expand the restaurant’s deck.

After reviewing the matter, health and human services officials determined that the restaurant was illegally using two septic tanks as wastewater holding tanks, and didn’t have a required leach field for sewage disposal from the restaurant. In a June 10 letter to Allen, Rebecca Walsh, an officer with the department’s Health Inspection Program, wrote that the restaurant, while permitted for 90 seats, could only accommodate 70 seats with the current septic system, as well.

The restaurant’s three-year eating establishment license with the Department of Health and Human Services would have expired on July 6. According to Walsh, the restaurant would not receive a license renewal unless the “entire” septic system was completed by July 1, including the leach field.

The department issued the restaurant a new eating establishment license for a 70-seat restaurant on July 2, according to Lisa Roy, program manager at the department’s health inspection program.

In the June 10 letter, Walsh described the various septic violations.

“There are two septic tanks in the ground for the restaurant that are serving as holding for the generated wastewater,” she wrote. “No leach field for this septic system has been installed to date. You stated that these tanks are pumped out twice a week by a septic hauler. As Jim Jacobsen mentioned, the use of these septic tanks as holding tanks is illegal.”

Walsh also wrote that Allen was allowing boaters to pump their holding tank waste into a septic system that services a three-bedroom house as well as a shower house on the Naples Marina property. That septic system is not designed to accommodate that use, she said.

With the license up for expiration on July 6, Walsh requested that Allen install a holding tank designed expressly for boat holding tank waste, install a leach field for Captain Jack’s restaurant sewage disposal, and fix a grease trap violation before July 1. According to Roy, Allen has complied with the requests. Carter, who is also Naples’ licensed plumbing inspector, also said Allen had completed the work.

“Everything was installed properly and done well,” she said.

Allen said he thought he had three years to install the full septic system – not two.

“I’m just doing what they want me to do,” he said. “I’m very glad for the town to be working with me and the state and I’m glad to get all this stuff done.”

While Allen has complied with the Department of Health and Human Services regarding septic issues, the Department of Environmental Protection has recommended that the town of Naples shut down Captain Jack’s due to shoreland zoning violations for approving a large restaurant as an accessory use in a former marina building close to the water. Carter has said the town has no plans to shut it down, however. The department could potentially fine the town for not enforcing its shoreland zoning ordinance, according to Mark Bergeron, the director of DEP’s Division of Land Use Regulation.

“We could take an enforcement action against the town for not properly administering their shoreland zoning ordinances,” he said. “That doesn’t happen very often.”

“We’re monitoring that situation and then I suspect we’ll also be potentially contacting the town at some point in time in the future,” Bergeron added.

In her June 10 letter to Allen, Walsh warned the marina owner that the restaurant must comply with all state and local laws.

“As we mentioned during our conversation, the issuance of an eating establishment license does not exempt you from other state or local laws, ordinances, or regulations, in this case specifically, the Department of Environmental Protection,” she wrote. “We mention this in light of the shoreland zoning issues identified by the DEP. Given the issues identified by the DEP, the completion of the septic system installation, and any other work, is at your own risk.”